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The death toll in Turkey and Syria has surpassed 11,000 people in the world’s deadliest earthquake disaster in more than a decade. The number of victims is climbing quickly two days after earthquakes leveled cities and towns in both countries.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived Wednesday in the country’s south, where rescue workers are looking for people still trapped under the rubble in the frigid cold. Temperatures in Gaziantep, near the epicenter in southern Turkey, dropped into the low 20s overnight.
Here’s what else to know
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Turkey reported at least 8,574 deaths and 49,133 people injured. In government-held parts of Syria, at least 1,262 people were killed and 2,285 injured, according to state media. Rescuers in rebel-held northwestern Syria recorded more than 1,400 deaths and 2,700 people injured.
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Washington Post journalists in the Turkish town of Nurdagi described districts reduced to heaps of rubble, dozens of bodies piled outside a hospital and a full morgue.
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Monday’s 7.8-magnitude earthquake was followed by dozens of aftershocks, including an unusually powerful 7.5-magnitude quake, which divided experts on whether to call it an aftershock.
11:24 AM: In a Turkish town shattered by the earthquake, death is everywhere
Live updates: Turkey, Syria earthquake death toll tops 11,000 as rescuers fight bitter cold
NURDAGI, Turkey — In a red blanket, Abdurahman Gencay cradled his toddler, Huri, as he walked from door to door and person to person at the local hospital, trying to find someone to bring her home, to their village, to be buried.
Gencay asked a man driving an electric repair van for a ride, but the car had no fuel, the man said. He asked a paramedic for help, but he was told, politely, that the medic’s duty was to save the living.
“Isn’t this your duty?” Gencay said, then sagged in a small garden, weighing his options. Finally, he walked off with his daughter toward Nurdagi, a town stricken like so many in Turkey after Monday’s earthquakes and filled with ambulances and grief and, everywhere, the dead.
By: Kareem Fahim and Zeynep Karatas
10:53 AM: Turkey blocked Twitter, internet-monitoring groups says
(Matt Rourke/AP)Twitter has been blocked on several networks across the country in the wake of Monday’s deadly earthquakes that leveled buildings and killed thousands of people, potentially complicating rescue efforts, according to internet-monitoring group NetBlocks.
Alp Toker, director of NetBlocks, which tracks internet outages, said that they have tracked the “gradual implementation of the restriction, coming in place provider by provider,” and added that the restrictions employed the same filtering mechanism used in previous instances and are “consistent with known forms of censorship in the country.”
“This indicates the issuance of an order to providers by a regulatory body or government authority, although there is no public statement or acknowledgment of such an order available yet,” he said in a statement to The Washington Post.
Toker underlined the potential impact of the measure at a time when the social media network has been used as a key communication and coordination tool for rescue and aid-delivery efforts.
“Twitter has been an absolute lifeline in the aftermath of the earthquakes, both for rescuers to seek assistance and coordinate the provision of rescue equipment, and by those seeking missing loved ones,” he said. “There is no obvious replacement to fill the gap.”
Networks first reported the restrictions Wednesday morning.
“Real-time network data show Twitter has been restricted in #Turkey; the filtering is applied on major internet providers and comes as the public come to rely on the service in the aftermath of a series of deadly earthquakes,” Netblocks said on Twitter.
Turkey has a long history of internet censorship and has been accused of restricting social media platforms during national emergencies, terrorist attacks or political incidents, arguing that it is safeguarding national security and preventing the spread of disinformation.
The most recent episode came in November, when authorities restricted social media platforms on multiple internet providers after an explosion in Istanbul.
By: Paulina Villegas
10:31 AM: Turkey suspends stock trading
A trader talks on his phone inside the trading room of the Borsa Stock Exchange in Istanbul on June 25, 2018.© Kostas Tsironis/Bloomberg
Turkey’s stock exchange was halted Wednesday after stocks tumbled and its benchmark index plunged more than 7 percent.
Bloomberg News reported that the benchmark Borsa Istanbul 100 Index has lost nearly $35 billion in value this week.
The suspension came after two circuit-breakers — mechanisms that briefly halt trading amid turbulent circumstances — could not stem the sell-off.
By: Julian Mark
10:25 AM: What caused the earthquake in Turkey?
Rescue teams evacuate a survivor from the rubble in Turkey. (Khalil Hamra/Associated Press)
At least 7,000 people have been killed and countless others remain missing after a pair of exceptionally destructive earthquakes shook Turkey and a broad swath of the Middle East. Particularly hard hit was Aleppo in northern Syria, a nation already embroiled in a brutal civil war that is now facing compounding disasters.
Amid the lengthy rescue, recovery and rebuilding process that lies ahead, many have raised questions regarding the impetus of the earthquakes, how long aftershocks can be expected and just how bad the sequence was.
We’ve broken down seven things to know when it comes to the earthquake sequences.
By: Matthew Cappucci
9:57 AM: Analysis: Earthquake’s tragic aftermath puts spotlight on Turkey’s leader
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks at the Turkish Grand National Assembly in Ankara on Feb. 1.© Adem Altan/AFP/Getty Images
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has loomed over his nation’s politics for a generation. A liberal reformer who turned into an autocratic nationalist, he is the most transformative and influential figure in the history of the Turkish republic since its founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
Erdogan is gearing up for pivotal presidential and parliamentary elections in May, when voters will decide whether to extend his 20-year rule and that of his ruling Justice and Development Party. Much seems to hang in the balance, with inflation soaring, the value of the Turkish lira collapsing and, if you listen to Erdogan’s critics, the future of Turkey’s democracy itself.
Then, on Monday, a disaster of unprecedented scale struck. Rescuers and relief workers are still sifting through the debris caused by a 7.8-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tremors that ripped through a wide swath of southern Turkey and northwestern Syria. Months away from the general election, the trauma of the moment may dictate Erdogan’s political family.
By: Ishaan Tharoor
9:34 AM: Before and after: Satellite images show quakes’ destruction in Turkey
Satellite images taken on Oct. 4, top, and Feb. 7 of Islahiye, Turkey, before and after a pair of large earthquakes struck the region on Monday.© Maxar Technologies/AFP/Getty Images
Satellite images taken before and after Monday’s deadly earthquakes in Turkey and neighboring Syria show the extent of the destruction.
The images, released by Maxar Technologies, show many buildings reduced to piles of rubble. Emergency tents have been erected to provide makeshift accommodation, including around a hospital in Islahiye, a Turkish town near the epicenter of the largest quake, which struck early Monday and measured 7.8 magnitude. A second quake — considered by some scientists to be an aftershock — struck hours later, measuring 7.5 magnitude.
A satellite view taken Tuesday of a Islahiye hospital with emergency tents.© Maxar Technologies/Reuters
Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay told reporters early Wednesday that as many as 5,775 buildings had collapsed across Turkey. The country has declared a state of emergency in 10 provinces, as rescuers race against the clock in freezing temperatures to pull survivors from the rubble.
Emergency tents and damaged buildings in Nurdagi, Turkey, on Tuesday.© Maxar Technologies/APBy: Rachel Pannett
9:04 AM: Syria makes formal request for E.U. emergency help
Janez Lenarcic, the European commissioner for crisis management, holds a news conference Wednesday in Brussels.© Olivier Hoslet/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
The Syrian government has triggered a formal request for humanitarian assistance through the European Union’s Civil Protection Mechanism following its earthquake disaster, a senior European Commission official told reporters Wednesday.
It was not immediately clear how E.U. member states would respond to Syria’s plea, but European Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic encouraged them to contribute.
The mechanism provides a formal way for E.U. member states to coordinate with one another when providing emergency assistance to countries that have been overwhelmed by disaster. Its resources — which are funded mostly by the European Commission — can be requested by countries in Europe and beyond.
Turkey had already activated the mechanism, allowing European officials to coordinate the deployment of more than 1,100 rescuers from 21 countries, Lenarcic said in a previous update.
While aid has flowed into Turkey with the help of local authorities, the international community has been hesitant to send aid directly to Syria, which has been embroiled in a bloody civil war for almost 12 years and is ruled by Bashar al-Assad, whose regime is subject to Western sanctions.
The United Kingdom announced Tuesday it would be sending $967,000 worth of aid to Syria — but not to Assad’s government. British authorities will send the resources directly to the Syria Civil Defense volunteer aid agency, also known as the White Helmets, which operates in the country’s rebel-held northwest.
By: Leo Sands
8:25 AM: WHO warns of ‘huge long-term’ impact on health care in Turkey and Syria
Men stand outside an emergency unit, surrounding an injured woman at a hospital in Adana, Turkey, on Wednesday.© Emilie Madi/Reuters
The World Health Organization warned on Wednesday of a “huge, long-term” impact on health care in Turkey and Syria, and said there was a need to prevent a potential surge of respiratory infections.
WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris told Sky News that aid groups were sending supplies for surgical and trauma care as rescuers continued to pull people from under the rubble. But she added that it was also important to quickly provide other health services, including wheelchairs and medicines for chronic illnesses such as diabetes and hypertension.
“There’s so much long-term change to people’s health,” she said. “We saw a baby that was born under the rubble yesterday. Babies will be born in the next few days to people sheltering in cars.”
Harris said early assessments showed damage to at least 15 hospitals and hundreds of health facilities. The disaster further strains Syria’s medical system, already battered by years of bombardment during armed conflict, the coronavirus pandemic and a cholera outbreak.
In Turkey, the health minister said Wednesday that 77 field hospitals were set up in 10 regions as the country’s south responds to the crisis.
“We’ve got to look at preventing infectious diseases,” WHO’s Harris said. “People are crowded together in the cold in difficult circumstances whose immune system is under tremendous stress.” She said damage to water and sewage systems also heightens the risk of waterborne infections.
“There’s going to be severe mental trauma,” she added, “so we need to bring in psychosocial support from the start.”
By: Ellen Francis and Amar Nadhir
7:54 AM: Analysis from Leo Sands, Breaking-news reporting
Turkish Airlines evacuated 19,050 people out of the earthquake disaster zone on Tuesday, a spokesperson tweeted. The national airline, which is assisting with evacuation operations, plans to transport an additional 30,000 people on Wednesday, wrote Yahya Ustun.
The majority of planned evacuations will fly from Adana and Gaziantep in the south, and Elazig in central Turkey, he said.
7:34 AM: Inside hard-hit city’s chaotic humanitarian aid efforts
Residents queue for aid items in Adiyaman, Turkey, on Wednesday.© Kareem Fahim/The Washington Post
ADIYAMAN, Turkey — In this southeastern Turkish city, one of the hardest hit by the two earthquakes, chaotic and makeshift distribution areas for humanitarian supplies sprang up in the city’s central boulevard Wednesday.
At the entrance to town, a huge line of people formed to take rations of water that were being handed out. Near the city center, Esref Tuncer, 60, showed up at one of the points around a truck trailer hoping to find blankets, but walked away with some thin-looking socks and two sweaters instead.
Other families raced around him, trying to secure one of the large tents sent by Turkey’s disaster management authority, as scuffles broke out around the truck carrying the tents.
By: Kareem Fahim
6:53 AM: Turkish goalie killed in quake
Turkish soccer goalkeeper Ahmet Eyup Turkaslan was killed in the collapse of a building after Monday’s earthquakes, his club, Yeni Malatyaspor, confirmed.
“Our goalkeeper, Ahmet Eyup Turkaslan, lost his life after being under the collapse of the earthquake. Rest in peace,” the club said on Twitter. “We will not forget you, beautiful person.”
The 28-year-old goalie appeared six times with Yeni Malatyaspor, a second-division team that he joined in 2021.
“RIP brother Eyup Ahmet Turkaslan,” tweeted Yannick Bolasie, a former winger for Crystal Palace and Everton in England’s Premier League who now plays for Caykur Rizespor in Turkey’s second tier. “One moment you can see someone in the dugout, the next moment they’re gone. My condolences to all his family and teammates at Yeni Malatyaspor. Devastating to hear and wish we can all continue to help everyone in need.”
FIFA, soccer’s global governing body, also tweeted condolences.
By: Cindy Boren
6:45 AM: Analysis from Leo Sands, Breaking-news reporting
Afghanistan’s militant Taliban rulers will send $165,000 worth of aid to Turkey and Syria following the disaster, Kabul’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Afghanistan’s population, living in near-universal poverty, is facing a dire humanitarian crisis of its own, exacerbated by foreign aid groups withdrawing from the country in December after the Taliban banned them from employing women.
6:25 AM: White Helmets among the aid workers and rescuers killed in northern Syria
At least eight aid and rescue workers were among the hundreds killed in northern Syria, according to their organizations.
The Syrian Civil Defense group known as the White Helmets, which operates in areas outside government control, said Wednesday that four of its volunteers, and their families, were among the quake victims in rebel-held northwestern Syria.
Doctors Without Borders said one of its employees was found dead under the rubble of his home in Idlib, northwestern Syria. “We are very shocked and saddened by the impact of this disaster on the thousands of people touched by it, including our colleagues and their families,” Sebastien Gay, head of the Doctors Without Borders mission in Syria, said in a statement.
The Qatari Red Crescent said Tuesday three of its field staff were killed. One was the supervisor of a traveling clinic in a camp for internally displaced people in northwestern Syria. One woman provided psychosocial support in a clinic in the Idlib region. Another was a pharmacist in northern Syria.
Ellen Francis contributed to this report.
By: Sarah Dadouch and Victoria Bisset
6:15 AM: Turkey’s president arrives in disaster zone
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CBS SF Bay AreaTurkey-Syria earthquake death toll surpasses 5,000
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NBC NewsUrgent rescue mission underway in Turkey and Syria for earthquake survivors
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CNBCTurkey-Syria earthquake: Rescuers raced against time to pull survivors from the rubble
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday arrived in the southern Kahramanmaras region, the epicenter of the earthquakes, where he addressed a crowd of reporters in front of disaster tents.
Erdogan said the government would help those who had been made homeless by the earthquakes by making hotel beds available. “Our citizens should not worry; we will never let them remain unsheltered,” he said.
Erdogan also announced plans to distribute 10,000 Turkish lire, or $530, to “each of our families.” It was not immediately clear who would be eligible for the aid.
According to the state-run Anadolu Agency, Erdogan’s schedule includes a visit to the city center of Kahramanmaras, followed by a visit to the nearby Pazarcik district. The outlet said he will then travel farther south to visit Hatay province, which sits on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast and shares a border with Syria.
By: Leo Sands
5:59 AM: Full scale of disaster in Turkey and Syria still unfolding, U.N. warns
The full scale of the disaster following earthquakes in Turkey and Syria is “still unfolding,” U.N. experts said Tuesday, as they warned of an impending humanitarian crisis. In a statement, officials highlighted the urgent need to step up search-and-rescue operations.
Martin Griffiths, undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs, said $25 million from the United Nations’ emergency response fund would be released to provide assistance in the region.
In Syria, relief efforts were hampered by its poor economic condition and fuel shortages made it difficult to transport heavy machinery and personnel, said Tommaso Della Longa, a spokesman for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
By: Niha Masih
5:34 AM: Analysis from Rachel Pannett, Rachel Pannett writes about global news for The Washington Post.
A delegation led by the Israel Defense Forces landed in Turkey early Wednesday to establish a field hospital as part of an aid mission. The IDF said the “Olive Branches” delegation, which includes search-and-rescue and medical experts, was prepared for “extreme weather.” Israel and Turkey began healing ties last year after more than a decade of tensions.
4:58 AM: Cross-border aid delivery complicated by poor road conditions
Road conditions at the only Turkey-Syria border crossing authorized by the U.N. Security Council for aid delivery are “impaired,” making it harder to deliver supplies to Syria’s rebel-held northwest, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Tuesday.
The Bab al-Hawa crossing on the Turkey-Syria border has served as a humanitarian lifeline for the 4.6 million people in the region, most of whom rely on aid for survival.
The road connecting Gaziantep, at the earthquake’s epicenter, to Hatay province, one of the worst-hit areas in Turkey, is reportedly inaccessible, the U.N. agency said. It added that the United Nations and its partners were exploring other routes to send in humanitarian assistance.
By: Niha Masih
4:31 AM: Turkey deploys thousands of soldiers to aid in rescue effort
Turkish soldiers and rescue workers at the site of a collapsed building in Hatay, Turkey, on Tuesday.© Erdem Sahin/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Turkey is deploying some 9,000 soldiers to assist with rescue efforts after a pair of deadly earthquakes struck the country.
Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said at a news conference that nearly 7,500 soldiers have already been deployed to the disaster zone and an additional 1,500 are set to join them.
More than 60,000 emergency officials are working in the disaster zone, including several thousand rescue workers from abroad, according to Anadolu, the state-run news agency.
On Wednesday, a South Korean air force plane arrived at Gaziantep — the epicenter of the strongest quake measuring 7.8 magnitude — to deliver humanitarian aid. Dozens of countries have offered assistance, from search teams and supplies to financial aid.
By: Rachel Pannett
4:05 AM: Turkey, Syria earthquake disaster is world’s deadliest in more than a decade
A survivor rides his bicycle through the city of Minamisanriku in northeastern Japan’s Miyagi prefecture after an earthquake on March 15, 2011.© David Guttenfelder/AP
The latest death tolls published by officials mean Monday’s earthquakes have now passed a grim milestone: With more than 9,000 dead, the event is now the deadliest earthquake disaster to strike anywhere on Earth in more than a decade.
It is the deadliest such catastrophe since 2011, when a 9.0-magnitude quake off the east coast of Japan killed more than 18,000 people after triggering a 23-foot tsunami and damaging the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
The Japanese disaster came a year after the deadliest earthquake recorded this century, in Haiti, where a 7.0-magnitude quake struck near the capital, Port-au-Prince, and killed more than 220,000 people.
By: Leo Sands
3:55 AM: China sends national earthquake rescue team to Turkey
A team of 82 Chinese rescue workers and four dogs arrived in the southern Turkish city of Adana on Wednesday to join the search for earthquake survivors.
The members of China’s only national earthquake search and rescue team are coordinating with local officials, U.N. agencies and the Chinese Embassy in Istanbul and will operate in two locations, state media reported.
Wang Mo, deputy leader of the team, said rescue workers were heading to earthquake-stricken regions with the aim of joining the rescue effort as soon as possible. At least two other nongovernmental rescue teams from China are heading to or have arrived in Turkey, state media reported.
Wang’s team is traveling with China’s first batch of disaster relief supplies, worth about $5.9 million, according to China’s Foreign Ministry.
Separately, China is offering $2 million of cash aid to Syria and coordinating over $4 million worth of disaster relief to be shipped to Syria, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said at a briefing Wednesday.
By: Lyric Li
3:16 AM: Analysis from Leo Sands, Breaking-news reporting
Almost 100,000 people are now assisting in Turkey’s emergency response in regions damaged by the earthquake, the country’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority said in a statement. As well as trying to rescue victims trapped under rubble, workers are providing tents, hot food and psychological support to survivors.
3:08 AM: Death toll in Turkey, Syria earthquakes nears 9,500
Emergency personnel and locals search for survivors at the site of a collapsed building in the Elbistan district of Kahramanmaras, southeastern Turkey. (Sedat Suna/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)© Sedat Suna/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
The death toll from two massive earthquakes and scores of aftershocks has risen to almost 9,500 in Turkey and Syria, officials said, as rescuers continue to comb the rubble for survivors in freezing temperatures.
Turkish officials reported Wednesday that 6,957 people had died and 38,224 were injured. In government-controlled parts of Syria, at least 1,250 people were killed and 1,449 injured, according to state media. In Syria’s rebel-held northwest, civil defense workers reported 1,280 deaths and more than 2,600 injured — a number they said they expected to rise significantly with hundreds still buried under rubble.
Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay had earlier estimated that as many as 5,775 buildings had collapsed. Some 8,000 people have been pulled from the rubble.
By: Rachel Pannett and Leo Sands
2:32 AM: Analysis from Niha Masih, Breaking news reporter focusing on U.S. and global events
Germany’s Deutsche Telekom is temporarily offering free phone calls from Germany to Turkey and Syria for its users to help people stay in touch following a pair of devastating earthquakes. In a statement, chief executive Tim Höttges said the company was responding with concrete help, not sympathy alone.
2:19 AM: Analysis from Niha Masih, Breaking news reporter focusing on U.S. and global events
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is on his way to southern Turkey, which sustained much of the damage from Monday’s tremblors, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported. He will inspect damage from the earthquakes as rescue efforts enter a third day.
1:44 AM: Analysis from Rachel Pannett, Rachel Pannett writes about global news for The Washington Post.
Australia is sending an urban search-and-rescue team of up to 72 people to Turkey to help local authorities who are racing against time, and freezing temperatures, to dig people out of the rubble following two large earthquakes. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Wednesday said the goal is to have “boots on the ground” by the end of the week.
12:58 AM: 400 buildings collapsed and 1,300 severely damaged, White Helmets says
Feb. 7 | Aleppo, Syria A rescue operation occurs on collapsed buildings.© White Helmets/Reuters
The earthquake collapsed more than 400 buildings and severely damaged at least 1,300 more, according to the Syria Civil Defense.
The group, often referred to as the White Helmets, added in a post on Twitter that thousands of other buildings remain damaged.
By: Ben Brasch
12:15 AM: Abnormally cold weather to prolong suffering for quake victims
Predicted temperature difference (in degrees Celsius) from normal over Turkey and neighboring areas over the next week. (WeatherBell)
For at least the next week, a bitter weather pattern will worsen a challenging situation for those left homeless by Monday’s quakes, or for those yet to be rescued.
Computer models project that temperatures will remain about 10 to 15 degrees (5.5 to 8 Celsius) below average, with no sign of a thaw in southern Turkey and northern Syria. In a tweet Tuesday, Turkey’s General Directorate of Meteorology confirmed that temperatures are predicted to be below seasonal norms through Feb. 14.
In a tweet summarizing the forecast for the area affected by the earthquake, the directorate predicts freezing lows and highs only in the 30s to near 40 (between 1 and 4 Celsius) through Saturday with generally partly cloudy skies.
In Nurdagi, Turkey — near the epicenter of the quakes — overnight temperatures are predicted to drop into the 20s (minus-2 to minus-6 Celsius) through the middle of next week, with daytime highs only in the 40s (5 to 9 Celsius), according to weather.com.
Mercifully, a mainly dry weather pattern is predicted, with little rain or snow.
The unusually persistent bout of weather is the result of a frigid pool of air and low pressure at high altitudes parked over the region hardest hit by the quakes. It may not become dislodged until some time next week.
By: Jason Samenow
12:00 AM: Video shows heavy damage to historic citadel in Syria’s Aleppo
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Footage released Tuesday shows heavy damage to the citadel of Aleppo in Syria, considered one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world.
Parts of the minaret of the mosque inside the structure had been severed, and a pillar identified by local architect Mohammed al-Rifaei as the “sheep tower” was reduced to rubble.
“We had repeatedly asked for the restoration of the tower,” Rifaei said, “but now it needs to be rebuilt from scratch.”
The citadel is part of the ancient city of Aleppo, which is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Several buildings in the fortress and gardens in the Turkish city of Diyarbakir also collapsed, UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay said in a statement.
By: Joe Snell
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